


A Snowball He Shall Get

by weaverofyourdreams



Category: Transformers: Prime
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-22
Updated: 2020-07-22
Packaged: 2021-03-04 17:35:58
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,860
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25450246
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/weaverofyourdreams/pseuds/weaverofyourdreams
Summary: Optimus Prime promised Raf a snowball. A near death experience got in the way of that. Optimus isn't going to let that stop him.
Comments: 10
Kudos: 54





	A Snowball He Shall Get

Jack had a shift at work immediately after school, and Miko had detention, so Raf was leaving school on his own. That was something he was used to, and half expected even now after meeting Jack, Miko, and the Autobots. What he hadn’t expected was the shiny red finish of Optimus Prime’s altmode parked by the school where Bumblebee usually parked. With a small startled jump, Raf pulled his bag closer to his back and sprinted over to the semi truck. 

A trill of worry passed through him. Was Bee okay? Was his family safe? The door to Optimus’s cab swung open revealing the unusually dark interior. Raf hesitated for a moment. The Autobot leader still made him a little nervous. The door twitched, almost curiously, before he jumped up onto the step rail, and jumped _again_ to get into the cab. 

“H-hi, Optimus, is everything okay?” Raf asked as the door swung shut behind him and the internal lights brightened slightly, and maybe the dark tint of the windows lightened. 

“Yes, Raf, everything is fine. There is just something I would like to remedy.” 

Optimus’s voice is warm and vast, surrounding the human child as he strapped the seatbelt in. 

“What’s wrong?” 

The truck shifted into gear and pulled into the road, engine humming to life from its stationary idle.

“I failed to retrieve a snowball for you.” The dash compartment opened, revealing a yellow scarf, a black knit hat, gloves, and a jacket. 

“Optimus, you and Arcee nearly died on that mission, you don’t have to spend time getting me a _snowball,”_ Raf answered, leaning forward in the seat and taking the scarf in hand. 

“I made a promise. I do not wish to break my promises. No matter how trivial it may seem.”

He smiled to himself. 

“Really… I’m sure there’s something you need to be doing, isn’t there?”

Spending time with Ratchet, Bee, and the others never felt… burdening to them, even if Ratchet complained. However getting so much as light conversation with Optimus Prime felt like an unbelievable feat. Now a personal trip with him? To get a snowball? Really it was just silly!

“I would like to do this for you, Raf. Unless you do not wish to?” 

Well… how often was it that Optimus got to do something that might be fun? 

“No. I’d like to! Where are we going?” Raf asked. 

“A place in Canada. The tundra. There is plenty of ice and snow there this time of year, and with this time of day it should be warm enough for us to visit without the threat of severe cold.” 

Optimus being the leader of the Autobots meant high stress. Not to mention the eons’ long war under his metaphorical belt. Raf wasn’t sure what, if anything, he did to relax. So maybe this was good for him. He looked out the window, seeing the town pass by at a comfortable cruising speed. 

“How was school?” Optimus asked, sounding a little unsure. 

“We had a test in history today. It’s not my favorite subject but it’s pretty easy,” Raf answered, rubbing the back of his neck. 

“I was once an archivist. History was my specialty,” his voice lightened and he sounded happy to share. 

“Oh that’s really cool! Can you tell me something about Cybertron’s history?” Raf requested, wanting to learn more about his friends’ home planet. What more credible source than _Optimus Prime?_

“Gladly!” Optimus hummed thoughtfully, “Oh! Cybertron is actually the creator of our home world, a living god named Primus. The reason _why_ is because in the beginning, Primus had a robot mode. But he was not alone, he had a brother named Unicron. He was not inherently evil but he was an entity of destruction. He became obsessed with his right to destroy and set his wrath upon the undeserving universe. So Primus had to stop him. After a long battle, Primus was only able to stop his brother by trapping them both in their alt modes. Which were planets. Primus became Cybertron, and as for Unicron, his location was unfortunately lost to time , or never recorded.” 

“That’s really cool but, and no offense, but that sounds more like mythology rather than history?” Raf asked and Optimus gave an amused rumble. 

“Some would say they are one and the same. Why don’t you tell me something from humanity’s history?” 

So much of mankind’s history was steeped in war and conquest… Raf wasn’t sure what to tell Optimus. He’d had enough of that on his own, surely. 

“We have an era of time called the Renaissance! It happened after a long period of tragedy during the Middle Ages. A lot happened during this time period. Art, technology, and sciences all underwent huge changes. Several of humanity’s most famous artists come from this time period. The most famous one is probably Leonardo di Vinci, he was a great artist and inventor. He had tons of inventions that affected even recent technological advances. Like aerial travel, it was only _recently_ achieved, at least from a Cybertronian point of view, back in 1903. But there were recordings of flight being achieved as early as the 1700s!” 

The town gave way to desert, the dry arid landscape rolling by. 

“That is quite impressive. Mankind is a relatively young species, having achieved that in such a short time compared to the first iterations of your species to the present is amazing.” 

Far enough from town, a groundbridge opened in the road and Optimus drove through. On the other side was a snowy field, hardy foliage poking up through the fluffy white blanketed across the ground. Optimus stopped.

“Please put on your protective clothing before exiting,” he requested and Raf obeyed, wrapping the scarf loosely around his neck, pulling on the jacket and the gloves before putting the hat on, making sure to cover his ears. He hopped out of the cab. The snow crunched under his feet and Raf immediately kicked it, sending a cloud of white flying, the breeze carried it sideways. Cold air nipped at Raf’s cheeks, feeling like tiny pin needles lightly poking his face. His breath puffed out in clouds and Raf gave a long exhale, watching the puff dissipate. 

Optimus transformed into his robot mode, sticking out like a sore thumb with his bright red amongst their white and grey surroundings, and set his hands delicately on his hips with a soft smile aimed down at Raf. He met the sage gaze with a smile of his own. 

“I’ve heard different kinds of snow make better snowballs than others,” Raf said and Optimus raised an inquisitive brow. 

“Do you know which kinds? Or how to tell the difference?” 

There was a brief silence, filled with nothing but the whistling of the wind. 

“Well… no. I grew up in the desert, Optimus.” Raf answered with his smile tugging wider across his face. Optimus crouched, coming to a knee next to him and studied the snow with such intensity it was almost comical. Raf just settled for leaning down and picking up palmfuls of snow, smashing them together gleefully. 

“Earth is so diverse, from the weather patterns to biomes, even the life forms vary wildly. I find it so intriguing that even the same type of weather can vary from itself.” 

Raf leaned up with more snow, finding that his first experiment proved fruitful. The snow packed and stuck together nicely, so it was time to get to work!

“What’s Cybertron’s weather like?” Optimus sat, cross legged in the snow and began to make patterns in the snow. 

“Cybertron’s sun is warm but the planet’s surface is cool. There is acid rain that bites your plating.”

Raf tilted his head, setting one snowball to the side and gathering more for another. 

“We have acid rain. It’s a product of pollution. It’s a really gradual thing though, takes years for rain to do damage.” 

Optimus nodded. 

“Yes, we were confused when we first heard of it here. The rain I speak of is significantly stronger. Prolonged exposure over a matter of weeks can cause damage rather than years.” 

“You have protectants against it though, don’t you?” Raf asked, setting another snowball to his steadily growing pile. He wanted to make one for Jack and Miko, and one for each of his siblings. 

“We do actually!” Optimus told him with a bright expression, seeming proud that Raf came to this conclusion, “And you may want this if you wish to transfer those across a distance.” Optimus offered, reaching into his subspace and pulling out a red cooler, delicately setting it down nearby. “Agent Fowler also provided bags for you to place each snowball in.” 

Raf made a mental note to thank Agent Fowler when he saw him. 

With the last snowball set in the cooler, Raf turned to Optimus, who was absently molding snow into mounds. It was nice to see him actually relax. 

“That one reminds me of Miko!” Raf observed, bounding through the snow over to Optimus’s side. He breathed a laugh, taking a closer look at his snow pile. “Can I help?” 

“Certainly.” 

He leaned down and grabbed a couple of fuzzy, but crunchy feeling plants and approached the snow pile, sticking them in place atop the head and giving Snow Miko her pompoms. He picked up some sticks and stones and gave her a smile and a set of eyes. There wasn’t anything to make her ponytail though. Despite this, Raf laughed mischievously and snapped a photo on his phone. 

“Jack will get a kick out of this.” Raf said, putting his phone away. “And thanks, Optimus, this was really nice!” 

“I agree. Are you ready to go?” Optimus asked as Raf picked up the cooler. He nodded. 

“I wouldn’t want to worry anyone by staying out here too long.”

* * *

“You got to spend the afternoon with Optimus! No fair!” Miko barked as Raf handed her the snowball he made for her. 

“You probably could have gone if you hadn’t gotten detention,” Bulkhead told her, leaning down to see the snowball. Miko frowned slightly at the snowball, then quirked a grin, looking to Optimus as he stood by Ratchet. 

“Hey Optimus! If I do better at school can I have a field trip with you too?” She yelled enthusiastically, catching his attention. He nodded. 

“Of course. But I believe Bulkhead should set your goal, seeing as he is highly invested in your education.” 

Miko groaned, then looked up to her guardian with a sweet expression. 

“Come on Bulk, be reasonable! Nothing too hard, okay?” she asked the wrecker. He chuckled, and hummed thoughtfully, a knuckle to his chin. 

“How about… no detention for a month? That reasonable enough for you?” Bulkhead asked, offering a hand. 

“Deal!” Miko announced, high fiving on their agreement and bounced over to Optimus. “I get to choose what we do right?” She asked, laying a hand on one of the tires in Optimus’s ankle. 

“Nothing _dangerous,_ obviously!” Ratchet barked, turning to look at the overzealous teen. Optimus smiled happily. 

“Anything within reason, Miko,” he told her, laying a calming hand on his medics shoulder. 


End file.
